NGI EXPLORERS’ AWARDS CEREMONY

On the 2nd February 2022, the NGI Explorer team celebrated the end of its fellowship program with an award ceremony to celebrate the outstanding achievements of its Explorers. The program was a great success within its purpose of bridging, expanding, and sustaining a cross-continent Research and Innovation collaboration with the USA.

The event began with an introduction and opening remarks by Jorge Gasos, Project Officer from the European Commission, DG Connect. The 35 NGI Explorer nominees were invited to pitch their projects, briefly showcasing their results and project highlights. These projects have been carried out by European researchers and innovators directly working with US interdisciplinary, tech-driven collaborative groups in the following domains: AI, Cybersecurity, Cloud/Edge Computing, IoT, 5G; and verticals: health, smart cities and buildings, network security and connectivity, smart
transport, and tourism.

To conclude the series of interesting tech and scientific knowledge shared by our Explorers, the event followed with a Masterclass “Greening the NGI”, offered by TETRA project and conducted by Robert Miskuf & Susanna Albertini. The Masterclass focused on the challenges and impacts of the digital society on the environment and provides insights to rethink the NGI environmental footprint in the near and far future.

At the end of the event the contestants were evaluated by a top-notch and well-rounded jury panel with solid knowledge and skill in technology and business:

THE AWARDED INNOVATORS & RESEARCHERS

Despite the high-quality of the results of all our NGI Explorers, in the end only 8 were awarded prizes for their outstanding performances.



BEST PROJECT EXCELLENCE
Bruna Fonseca & Greg Agriopoulos

BEST NGI EXPLORERS IMPACT
Serena Leka & Luis de la Tore Cubillo

BEST SOCIAL INNOVATION IMPACT
Rui A. Costa & Franziska Kirstein

BRIGHTEST EU EXPLORER
Roberto Medina Bujalance & Luke Porwol

A proud moment for everyone at the NGI Explorers Community, to celebrate The European spirit of progress and collaboration.

In addition to these categories, the NGI Explorers team awarded the University of Santa Clara and the Arizona State University as

THE BEST COLLABORATIVE PARTNER

The NGI Explorers program would not be possible without our US nodes. These institutions and companies of distinguished importance worldwide, offered their contribution to the program’s purpose by participating in this adventure of technological and scientific nature, demonstrating great
collaborative spirit and support towards the solid and sustainable pan-European vision that the NGI community stands for.